


ⵄMy Friend from the Futureⵄ

by Pluspunt



Category: Bandersnatch - Fandom, Black Mirror
Genre: Bandersnatch - Freeform, Gen, Time Loop, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-09-30 18:11:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 2,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17228756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pluspunt/pseuds/Pluspunt
Summary: You try to be Stefan's friend





	1. Who is there?

  1. **Who is there?**



“Who's doing this to me? I know there's someone there.”

 

Stefan is in his room begging in front of the tv. for a sign.  
He jumped from the flat ,seen Colin jump , never followed Colin and instead went to the doctor Haynes and took the higher doses faithfully.   
  
Or it all didn't happen and he just made Bandersnatch working in the gigantic office where choice was taken from him by normal people instead by invisible forces.   
  
Round and round. You never let him eat frosties that is just unbearable cardboard with sugar.   
  
“I know someone is there just give me a  fucking sign.” Stefan begs staring at the ceiling.   
  
***Netflix*/ⵄ**

 


	2. 2 *Netflix*/ⵄ

**2 *Netflix*/ⵄ** ****  
  


Text appears on the tv screen.

_ I'm  watching you on Netflix

I make decisions for you_

 

"What is  Netflix? You are not making sense. " Stefan says his eyes wide.

***You try to explain */ Tell more**


	3. *You try to explain */ Tell more

**** _  It's an entertainment streaming service from the early 21st century _

"You're not making sense.” Stefan says panic seeping in his voice.

“ you're not"

***talk more*/ stop conversation**


	4. *talk more*/ stop conversation

**** _It is like tv but online

I control it_

 

"Stefan who are you talking to?" Peter Butler walks into the room. Stefan doesn't look away from the now blank screen.

"It is going to sound crazy" he says.

"Tell me anyway" 

 

"I'm  being controlled by people from the future "

 

***Explain to dad* / kill dad**


	5. *Explain to dad* / kill dad

You don't want to  kill Stefan's only parent again,  or want to make him a killer particularly again. You want to find a happy ending for Stefan anyway. Or if not happy a new ending at least.

 

_ HELLO DAD (PETER) , GREETINGS FROM 2018 _

 

Both men are staring at the screen.

 

"You see it too right? " Stefan asks.

 

_He does honestly , for all the promises of choice I had to go off canon to find this_

 

"What?" Stefan’s eyes are glued to the screen . Dad is looking around.

 

_ Well to the extent Mirror and CYOA stories have canon anyway..... Not that this counts_

 

"Stefan why is the telly talking about canons? Is this your game?"

 

**_"NO"_**  You type and Stefan screams.

 

_ I'm  the futuristic fucker(psycho) who is controlling your son ... sort of_

 

"What the fuck do you mean with sort of ?" Stefan is shaking.

 

_ I have this sort of CYOA game but it's a movie and if I  don't choose the game will and it feel the same for you , I  can't make my own decisions I have to pick between two of many possibilities and (even then) the decisions between them are outside my control also sometimes both choices are the same _

 

You begin to type more when dad says "I don't care get out of my son's head"

 

_that would be a bad ending , it either means Stefan in jail with dad and sometimes others dead or Stefan changing his past so he dies in the train accident with his mother and in the doc's office  or y'all don't exist _

 

Stefan laughs a hollow laugh.

"My son is being controlled by an American from the future ,why do I  believe this? " Dad is pacing looking at the door and back to the tv.

 

_because I want to    also   my nationality is so not the point _

 

"What do you want? " Asks Dad.

 

_ i want to find the golden ending ,the happy ending  , true end whatever san junipero proves Mirror can have semi happy endings_

 

"Just go away" Stefan whispers his arms are wrapped around his legs.

 

_That would mean non existence for your world you get the fact your in a game essentially right? This world can't exist without being observed. _

 

"You don't  know that. Also  how are we talking if all you get are two choices"

 

_good point,  did this become a sandbox? I  was much in to my rambles I forgot that my keyboard now works_

 

"I am sorry an idiotic American is controlling you and is vital for this timelines existence, son"

 

_not an American actually , but I'm not quite sure of the nationality of the makers actually. Probably british.  Netflix is from the US but currently worldwide operating barring some areas that either their or the government of the USA is restricting .....

 

Also so not  the point I'm  trying to find a path that doesn't suck here and all I got was one  where Colins dies together with his his mom and in doctor Haynes office and one where the game succeeds but is pulled because Stefan kills and Colin's daughter is the next Playable  character for lack of a beter term_

 

"I don't want  your help " Stefan says " just let us run in the background "

 

***You do*/ You don't** .


	6. *You do*/ You don't

Stefan kills his dad chops him in pieces and ends in jail . Bandersnatch is an unfinished mess and gets zero stars from Robin.

 

_hi, Stefan wanna try again?_

"No fuck off"

 

You watch.

 

Stefan sometimes looks to the blank tv for hours not turning it on or saying a word.

 

You watch.

 

Stefan stopped staring at the blank tv and covered the whole cell in glyphs .

One day he says "I want to try again."

 

You turn on the tv.

_ are you sure? _

Stefan stares up to the tv a look of determination in his eyes.

"Yes."

 

_Relax then_

  
  



	7. 9th july 1984

 

_Hi Stefan_ the alarm says instead of  8:30.

 

An empty notepad appears on the alarm. Text is being written on it by an invisible hand.

 

_This is as far back as I can go my only choices for now are your breakfast cereal , I always go for sugar puffs , the music you listen to on the way to ....soft and if you want to work there or alone

 

Working there means you go back to this moment and your game is mediocre  , next round you have knowledge of  the first time and so does Collin

 

It will probably be different this time though

 

It might be the least terrible of  all our options though _

 

"I need breakfast first. " says Stefan .

 

_you can just  think it , it makes no difference for me

I need to find some surface that is suitable for writing _

 

~You write way to much~ thinks Stefan.

 

_Acknowledged ;frosties or sugar puffs?_

 

~I honestly couldn't care less~

Stefan walks down the stairs his well thumbed copy Bandersnatch in one hand.

He sits down the table staring at the copy the letters seem to distort.

~don't you dare~ You look for another suitable surface to write on. But dad is already at the table with a mug.

“Here is your tea.” Dad is smoking a cigarette and goes to sit opposite from Stefan at the table. He puts out his cigarette in the clear ash bowl. Stefan is ignoring him still fixated on his book.

“Thanks dad”  Says dad sarcastic. 

“Sorry I was miles away gotta have everything ready for today.” Stefan looks up from the book in his hands .

“This is for some computer people?”

“Yeah. Tuckersoft they do the Colin Ritman games”

“Oh not the Colin Ritman.”

“Mr. Thakur the owner said that I could show them my Bandersnatch demo.”

“Your bander-what?”

“Bandersnatch. I’ve based it on the book” He holds the book so dad can see the front cover.

“Was that your mother’s?” 

“It was in her things yeah. Don’t know if she read it though”

“Don’t think so. Jerome F. Davies. Well he can’t be a great writer you are always flicking back and forwards in that.”

“No , it’s a choose your own adventure book. You decide what your character does , you know like a game.”

“Sounds thrilling , why don’t you decide what you want for breakfast.”

Dad is holding two types of cereal “Both seem a bit kiddywink to me but you will insist. “

  
  


***Sugar puffs*/frosties**


	8. *Sugar puffs*/Frosties

Stefan points to the sugar puffs. Dad puts down the cereal. Loud dog barks fill the room . Dad walks to the window  and bangs on the glass. “Get back next door. The bloody hound of next door . be the death of us.”

 

Stefan eats his breakfast , grabs his stuff and goes. 

“Bye dad”

“Good luck”

Sitting a double decker Stefan has a notepad on his lap.

_ I think the best course of action is to just accept mr. Thakur’s offer _

~No , we know that will result in a crappy game there must be a way to make a good game where no one dies.~

_ So refuse the offer, and don’t freak out anybody by knowing to much._

Stefan looks out of the window and sees the glyph sprayed on a billboard. He fumbles with his walkman and puts in a cassette from the Thompson twins.

  
  


Stefan walks inside the huge building  , he corrects the pronouncement of his name and searches the open office for the almost white hair of he spots Collin and lets out a breath he didn't know that he was holding.

 

“Collin Ritman ,that is him over there.” Says mr. Thakur.  pointing to Collin.

“That’s  crazy i have played all of his games” 

 

“Let's say hello.” He is guiding Stefan to the desk.

“ Sure he won't mind? He's working.” Stefan says heart beating .

“ He'll be fine.” Thakur is shushing him and takes Collin’s headphones. 

Collin looks at him slightly confused.

“We've met before?” The actual alive Collin Ritman asks.

“No.” He says , because that’s the script.

Collin turns back to his screen and presses on a key. 

“This is my latest ,it’s called nohzdyve.”

“The sprites are so smooth.” Stefan says, because he said it the first time and because it’s true.

Just then the game crashes.

 

“ What's that?”

“Buffer error.

The eyeball sprite's overshot

the video memory.”

“How did you know that?”

Stefan shrugs and tries to nonchalantly say “ Just did.”

“ Bloody hell, he's good, right? Anyway, let's get down to business Stefan's got something to demo for us.”

 

You show the demo.

“He’s Pax, the demon he’s in the book .  So we've actually arrived  at a choice point,  and then you can choose with the joystick, no time limit.” Stefan explains.

 

“Don't worship him, he's the Thief of Destiny.” Says Collin.

“ You've read Bandersnatch?” Stefan asks.

“Jerome F. Davies. Visionary.”

“Isn't he that bloke who went cuckoo and cut his wife's head off?” Thakur asks the joystick in his hands.

“That is what people tend to focus on, yes.”  Says Collin.

“Which ending did you get? When you read it.”

“All of them. even the non existent ones.” Stefan stares at him focusing on keeping his mouth closed. 

Thakur chooses to worship Pax and the game crashes.

“ What's happened?”

“ I haven't programmed that path yet.”

“Right. So a lot of paths then?”

“If it's going to be like the book.”

A lot of divergent realities in that book. It was ahead of its time. In as much as time exists.”

“OK. So here's my proposal. Come and write it here.”

“ Here?” Stefan smiles despite himself , the offer to work besides Collin makes him giddy even with the knowledge he must refuse.

“ We'll give you a couple of desks, set up a small team, just for you. And of course Col's on hand. What do you reckon?”

  
**Accept / *Refuse*** ****


	9. Accept /*Refuse*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Stefan Refuse

“No.” Stefan says smile still on his face. They are here , Collin is here and they are going to find that happy ending. “I mean, yes, I want to do your game, I need to write it how I know. You know, just me. At home.”

“At home. On your own?” Thakur asks eyebrows raised.

“ Yeah, it's just that it's all in my head, and I think if I let other people in it'll just get, I don't know, stressy?” Stefan says keeping to the script.

"Stressy"? He repeats

“But I know that I can do it proper justice. The book. You know, divergent story paths. Parallel realities.”

 

“ It's still a game though, yeah?” Thakur asks. 

“ I get it. The lad's a craftsman. He's a lone woodsman. I'm the same. Teams are fine for things like action titles, but when it's a concept piece, bit of madness is what you need and that works best when it's one mind.”

 

“All right, the important thing is   putting it out for Christmas,so I'll need finished code by 12th September.”

“ OK, sure.”

 

Stefan takes the bus back home the list of music Collin dictated to him in his back pocket .

His father is in the kitchen, baffled by the microwave and smoking.

“How did it go? ” He asks.

“Good. They’re taking it. I write it at home.”

”Well done, mate. That’s great right?” Dad says. “Is it standard to not work in their office?”

“Yeah.”Stefan says and walks upstairs.

 

On the telly the game bowtie guy reviews colins game. You're getting pretty annoyed at him the only time he was satisfied was a timeline you don't want to particularly want to go through again.

 

_so how is metll hedd anyway? I never seen you play it._

~ It's  Metl Hedd; and what do you mean you never seen me play it? There is that afternoon in August where the whole BanderSnatchTeam tries stay alive the longest .~

 

_That timeline skips from accepting the offer to Christmas for me_

 

~So even you don't see everything ~

 

"So there I am ,there is Colin Ritman."

"The actual Colin Ritman I believe you called him"

"I said no ,and then I got to explain why I said no."

"And what did you say?" She asks leaning slightly towards him.

"That I prefer working alone. "

"It sounds to me that you are growing in confidence."  Dr. Hayness is smiling at him.

 

"I'm still going to make the game, just at home."

“Well done Stefan ,that's great.”

Stefan smiles nods glancing downwards.

The doctor takes a sip from her mug.

 

"Still this must be a difficult time of the year for you with the anniversary looming."

Stefan hands ball into fists.

"Would you like to talk about what happened with your mother? "

 

**Yes/*No***


End file.
